Laboratory and Experimental Geomorphology: Examples from Fluvial and Aeolian Systems

Experimental research has played an integral role in the development of foundational knowledge on which the physical sciences and engineering are based. Motivated by the control, precision, and reproducibility that it affords, as well as by its ability to adapt to the changing needs of the discipline, geomorphologists now embrace the utility of laboratory-based inquiry. The formative years for the use of hydraulic flumes, river modeling flumes, and wind tunnels are reviewed in this article, as these apparatuses and their appurtenant equipment provide unrivalled opportunities for education and research, commonly producing transformative results that have markedly improved the understanding of Earth surface processes. Laboratory-based geomorphology is entirely complementary to field- and numerical-based approaches.